Field
The disclosed embodiments relate to social networks. More specifically, the disclosed embodiments relate to techniques for characterizing and managing social network interactions.
Related Art
Social networks may include nodes representing individuals and/or organizations, along with links between pairs of nodes that represent different types and/or levels of social familiarity between the nodes. For example, two nodes in a social network may be connected as friends, acquaintances, family members, classmates, and/or professional contacts. Social networks may further be tracked and/or maintained on web-based social networking services, such as online professional networks that allow the individuals and/or organizations to establish and maintain professional connections, list work and community experience, endorse and/or recommend one another, run advertising and marketing campaigns, promote products and/or services, and/or search and apply for jobs.
In turn, social networks and/or online professional networks may facilitate business activities such as sales, marketing, and/or recruiting by the individuals and/or organizations. For example, sales professionals may use an online professional network to locate prospects, maintain a professional image, establish and maintain relationships, and/or engage with other individuals and organizations. Similarly, recruiters may use the online professional network to search for candidates for job opportunities and/or open positions.
Moreover, the dynamics of social networks may shift as connections among users evolve. For example, a user may add connections within a social network over time. Each new connection may increase the user's interaction with certain parts of the social network and/or decrease the user's interaction with other parts of the social network. Consequently, use of social networks may be improved by mechanisms for characterizing and/or modulating the dynamics among users in the social networks.
In the figures, like reference numerals refer to the same figure elements.